Stress, Modern Day Life and Hormones
by Dr. Hepsharat Amadi H
ormones are some of the many chemical messengers that help our body’s functioning. They are
secreted from many glands, including the ovaries and testes as well as the adrenal glands and thyroid; and estrogens, for ex- ample, are also synthesized in fat tissue. One of the many functions of hor- mones is to help us maintain a relatively constant state internally in the face of possibly extreme changes in our exter- nal environment. Our nervous system, endocrine system, digestive system, and immune system are intricately intertwined and interdependent in helping us to main- tain our homeostasis. Many chronic health issues that affect
us today have some hormonal component to them, but this is often not recognized or addressed by the majority of medical doctors. The reasons for this are that most doctors are trained not to consider the possibility that there might be a hormonal imbalance present unless the patient has rather extreme and obvious hormonal symptoms (e.g. hot flashes). Often, any type of imbalance that is thought to be primarily hormonal is relegated to endo- crinologists to be treated, whereas the vast majority of people see their primary care
Many chronic health issues that affect us today have some hormonal component to them, but this is often not recognized or addressed by the majority of medical doctors.
doctor first and never ultimately see an endocrinologist.
Another reason why hormonal imbal-
ances are under-diagnosed, besides the fact that they usually are not tested for, is that the way doctors have been trained to test for hormones is not likely to reveal all of the imbalances that may be present. Most doctors consider blood testing for hormones to be the “gold standard” and yet this type of testing will not reveal many adrenal problems. Cortisol, which is one of the main hormones the adrenal glands secrete and which is key in helping our bodies cope with the effects of stress, is secreted in a circadian rhythm – highest in the morning and lowest at night. The best way for testing cortisol levels is to do saliva testing and submit several samples during the course of one day. Typically, a person only goes to a lab to have blood drawn once in a day. Whatever level their
cortisol is at that time gives no information whatsoever about whether the levels being secreted at other times are normal for that time of day.
Additionally, the reference ranges of
hormonal values vary widely (for example, there is a nine fold difference between the minimum and the maximum “normal” value of thyroid stimulating hormone). It is also possible that a level of hormone which could be considered “normal” may not be “optimal” for any given person. One last factor is that there can be differences in the way hormones act in the body based on hormone-receptor interac- tions, so that the same amount of a certain hormone in one person’s body may be adequate, an overload or insufficient in another, depending on how optimal those interactions are. Many factors of modern day life con- tribute to hormonal imbalances. Lack of adequate trace minerals in our food con- tributes not only to difficulty synthesizing and regulating our hormones, but at the same time, increased toxin exposure and stress place greater demands on our body to make hormones. Plastics, pesticides and herbicides act in the body as foreign estrogens, whereas birth control pills and other synthetic steroids such as those used in pharmaceutical treatments for asthma, rashes and allergies, act as foreign adrenal hormones. Hormones that are foreign to the body, while they may suppress symp- toms in the short run, tend to cause further imbalances and problems in the long run,
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